Marilyn Eber of Denver and Jan Janitschke of Littleton were top Denver bridge unit masterpoint winners and co-winners of the Lou Neff Trophy at Denver’s week-long Rocky Mountain Regional bridge tournament, which ended on Memorial Day.
With Mark Lair of Canyon, Texas, and Marty Seligman of Philadelphia, they picked up a first, a second and a tie for third in three big Bracketed Knockout events plus third place in the final day’s Pikes Peak Stratiflighted Swiss Teams, for 119 masterpoints.
In a rare occurrence, Eber and Janitschke had the trophy locked up going into the last day of the tournament, having so outdistanced their nearest competitors.
Colorado players earning Life Master status at the tournament included Anjenette Cooper, Barbara Carpenter, Julie Leman, Jeff Haber and Marty Caplan, all of Denver; Sam Tayler and Joe Melton, both of Colorado Springs; Barbara Kelly of Avon; Trish Fillo of Edwards; Grace Sokolik and Naomi Cartwright, both of Fort Collins; Eleanor Larson of Golden; and Marge Pint of Erie.
Ed Hagerman of Denver passed the 5,000-masterpoint mark for Diamond Life Master.
The tournament kicked off with the highly successful Tom Lena-han Pro-Am Pairs which matched some of the area’s top players with less-experienced players. Close to 100 pairs participated with the top score going to Marie Smerjac of Castle Rock and Sarah Veil of Harbor Springs, Mich.
Chuck Henke and Don Vancil, both of Aurora, won the opening evening’s Mount Massive Charity Pairs, with money going to the Rise School of Denver, which offers high-quality early childhood education to children with developmental disabilities as well as children with typical development.
More results next Sunday.
These were winners of upper-division championships at the spring sectional in Glenwood Springs.
Pair games: Alice Kinningham and Susan Grauer, both of Aurora, won the first single-session Stratified Open Pairs, with the second session going to John Van Ness of Carbondale and Susan Grauer of Aurora. Double-session victors were Robert Lupton of Aurora and Belinda Rust of Denver.
Team Games: The team of Robert McKenzie of Denver, Brian Rink of Arvada, Robert Vetter of Aurora, and Sheryl Siegel of Greenwood Village tied the team of Allen Kane and En Hay, both of Highlands Ranch, and Spencer Jones and Peggy Ware, both of Denver, for first in the Stratified Swiss Teams.
Earlier this month, players competed in Longmont at the Boulder bridge unit’s tournament with these top scorers in upper-division games.
Allen Kane and En Hay took the first single-session Stratified Open Pairs, with the second session won by Dave Caprera and Anne Brenner, both of Denver. Double-session champions were Spencer Jones and Peggy Ware.
Don and Anita Heitler of Englewood, Judy Randel of Buena Vista and Suzanne Jones of Boulder were the winning Bracketed Knockouts squad. The Stratified Swiss Teams title went to Gregory Herman of Fort Collins, Linda Sundbye of Broomfield, and Dave Caprera and Anne Brenner.
Michael and Lynn Renbarger of Superior were top masterpoint winners at Denver’s spring novice-intermediate 299’er tournament.
Bridge Lessons: Paul Ossip will teach a five-week Getting Ready for Duplicate class starting 6:30 p.m. June 2 at the Denver House of Cards at 1800 W. Oxford Ave. 303-781-6552 for information.
Club news: The Castle Rock Bridge Club is holding this year’s Worldwide Bridge Contest June 6 at 1 p.m. in the Lowell Ranch 4-H Building at 2330 South Interstate-25 Frontage Road, 303-810-8504.
It’s an unusual 100 top on predetermined matchpoint scoring.
